| Postcards of the Past |
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| Oxford University Balliol College |
| A 1906 postcard of Balliol. |
All Souls Brasenose Christ Church Corpus Christi Exeter Hertford Jesus Keble Lady Margaret Hall Lincoln Magdalen Merton New Nuffield Oriel
Pembroke The Queen's St Anne's St Edmund Hall St Hilda's St Hugh's St John's St Peter's Somerville Trinity University Wadham Worcester
Pembroke The Queen's St Anne's St Edmund Hall St Hilda's St Hugh's St John's St Peter's Somerville Trinity University Wadham Worcester
| Balliol College, on Broad Street, was founded in 1263, and receives more applications from students wishing to study there than any other Oxford college, with about 400 undergraduates and 200 postgraduates. For a brief history of the College, visit the College Website. |
| The Balliol Tortoises. The college is noted for its tortoises. The original creature inhabited the College for at least 43 years, and was called Rosa after the Marxist Rosa Luxemburg. In June each year a tortoise race is held at Corpus Christi. Rosa won on many occasions but, alas, she disappeared in 2004 under mysterious circumstances. Since then a new arrival, Matilda, has taken on Rosa's role and is reported to be thriving. Care of the resident tortoise is the responsibility of Balliol students with the student in charge filling the position of Comrade Tortoise. |
| Balliol and the Martyr's Memorial. |
| There are of course very many notable former Balliol men - but as yet few women as the college only began admitting them in 1979. The following is our selection, to which you may suggest additions by emailing us ! H H Asquith; Harold Macmillan; Edward Heath; Jo Grimond; Denis Healey; Roy Jenkins; Graham Greene; Aldous Huxley; Nevil Shute; Hilaire Belloc; Anthony Powell; Richard Dawkins; Dan Snow; Boris Johnson; John Schlesinger. |
| If you would like to contribute something interesting about Balliol, we would be very pleased to hear from you ! And of course any old postcards of the college would also be very much appreciated - just email us a good quality scan ! |
| We discovered the information on this page either from books or by searching the internet - see what you can find ! |